LIVE from Scandinavia on the Voyager of the Seas July 31-August 10, 2022 with Dragon of the Seas

[DragonOfTheSeas]

I have to post this picture. To me it’s a sign off for the cruise. This was last nights moon rise over the ocean with a cruise ship below.

 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Once we dropped off our luggage at the hotel we hopped in a taxi and went to Nyhavn to ride the canal boats. There are two boat companies—the Netto boats and the Stromma boats. 

The hotel recommended the stroma and that’s where we went. I don’t know how the other one could’ve been any better.
 

 

look at that blue sky. Not one cloud in the sky. 
 

The boat has an open top so you can see everything very well. Nyhavn means New  Harbor. It’s kind of a happening place I’d like to hotels and restaurants in brightly colored buildings.

 

 

Then came the first of the low bridges. This really should’ve been called under the bridge door. I bet we would under 10 bridges at least. there it is ahead. 

 

not much room

 

then we got out of I have it into the main waterway. 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

This was one of my favorite stories. The Danish Navy used to have it’s location here on the waterways and the canal. But they outgrew that location. And so now the ship is part of a museum.

 

It is called the whoops ship. When it was still on duty it discharged a missile in error which destroyed some buildings but luckily did not hurt anyone. 
 

 

 

you could see the cruise ships in the distance

 

We stopped for a while but there was a different opportunity to get a good picture of her without a bunch of people in it. But at least we saw her. I told us that she’s been vandalized frequently. She said her head stole it twice and an arm sawed-off a she was dynamited off her pedestal. 😟

 

if you could see there’s a very long line of people waiting to take a picture with the mermaid. 

 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Then we went to the Christiansbro canal. This is an area of lots of apartment/condos and houseboats

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Did we pass by the Amalienborg Palace and museum. The queen lives in one in Prince Frederick and his family lives in the other of the two closest to the waterway with the black roofs. 

 

 

this unusual building is the Royal library. It’s built at a 7 degree angle called over top of the water, so it has a nice reflection. 
 

 

 

this is the parliament building

[DragonOfTheSeas]

They were many other great sites. But I think this gives you an idea that you don’t want to leave Copenhagen without taking a canal boat tour. Here is what the Stromma boats look like. 
 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Sorry--I know I did not give you any final thoughts.  However, DH and I brought home an unwelcome trip souvenir.  Covid 19.  Yes, we are vax and boosted. I am not sure where we got it, but I have a couple of thoughts on that.  

 

We are ok and isolating at home.  The symptoms are getting a little better.   So, this too shall pass. 

 

I will check in tomorrow and give final thoughts on the cruise and the various ports. 

[Husky1987]

1 minute ago, DragonOfTheSeas said:

Sorry--I know I did not give you any final thoughts.  However, DH and I brought home an unwelcome trip souvenir.  Covid 19.  Yes, we are vax and boosted. I am not sure where we got it, but I have a couple of thoughts on that.  

 

We are ok and isolating at home.  The symptoms are getting a little better.   So, this too shall pass. 

 

I will check in tomorrow and give final thoughts on the cruise and the various ports. 

Hope you feel better soon and it's a mild case for both of you.  

 

Would love to hear final thoughts on the status of Voyager...we have a January 2023 sailing on her.

[justKirbo]

On 8/5/2022 at 3:46 AM, DragonOfTheSeas said:

 

look at what was just on the other side. One guy that was passing by referred to it is the American embassy.

 

 

Reading this and drinking some coffee and this post made me snort said coffee. That's pretty funny.

 

Thanks for the great report. Loved all of your pictures and stories.

 

I hope your covid is a mild case. 

[DELTABLUE]

Oh, no!  Sorry that you caught the bug.  My son and DIL tested positive days after returning from their 7-22 cruise on Grandeur and another friend has it that was on the next Grandeur cruise.  YIKES!  Hope that this does not become the horrible hidden price we all have to pay to cruise.  Sure hope you have an easy go of it and are feeling better soon!

Edited August 13, 2022 by DELTABLUE

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Thanks everyone.  We are doing better.  It is an unfortunate end to a good cruise.  It does not take away from our great experiences. 

 

Here are a few thoughts regarding our cruise:

 

The Voyager of the Seas—She is a beautiful ship. 

 

 

She is clean and well cared for.  I have been on some ships [particularly in the Vision class] that are showing their age.  No amount of painting or sanding railings can cover all the damage of time.  I did not notice any of that on the Voyager.  The furniture in our suite looked very clean and the upholstery looked new. 

 

 

The staff was constantly cleaning.  The cruise compass had a notation to stay out of passenger passageways between 3-5am each day.  The crew used that time to fog the hallways to kill any germs.  One thing they did not do was encourage/force the use of hand sanitizer.  The Windjammer had a handwash station and everyone used that.  However, on our March cruise we were constantly asked to use sanitizer at almost every venue. [casino, theatre, etc.] There was always a dispenser present, but no one there to encourage its use. 

 

 

The Voyager does not have any of the gadgets found on the newest/biggest ships but provides what I call a more traditional cruising experience.  However, there is mini golf, a rock wall, a flow rider, two water slides, a basketball/pickleball court, etc.  One thing we did not have was pool activities/music.  With a port every day except one and cool weather there were few people in or even at the pools. I am sure this will be different when she returns to the Caribbean.

 

 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

The crew— I found the crew to be very friendly and competent.  I have already said our cabin attendant is likely the best we have ever had. We appreciated that the photographers did not interrupt dinner to take our picture. 

 

One negative spot was the Concierge Lounge waiters.  We had the slowest bar service of anywhere on the ship.  There was never a time we visited the lounge that all seats were full.  Since we are D+ we had 5 drinks loaded on our Sea Pass cards.  We never used all 5 so eventually we avoided the lounge. This would have been annoying to pay big money for a suite and have poor service. The waiters will need to speed up by the time they reach the Caribbean market.  The lounge will be full and there will thirsty suite guests.🍹

 

I mentioned that the Cruise Director, Guest Services manager, and a Next Cruise agent I talked to were all new.  After our cruise there were going to be many more. 

 

The Suite Concierge, our waiter and several bar staff all said they were getting off the ship with us. 🛳️  Our assistant waiter had one more cruise.  Our waiter said many crew members had their contracts extended because it was difficult to get workers.  Many have reached the end of those extensions. I know there is a constant turnover of crew.  But I think this will be a larger number than usual.

 

I am not sure how the crew will cope with larger numbers of passengers. 

 

I give the crew an "A."

[Broons77]

Thank you again for all the info you collected for everyone, including myself!  And especially for those final thoughts, those are just the kinds of things I wanted to hear about prior to my October sailing.  I intend on paying it forward by doing a live thread on our trip!

 

Reading between the lines of your comments about the crew, I'll set my expectations accordingly as our sailing is appearing more and more full along with potentially iffy October weather in NE/Canada.  This should be interesting!

 

I hope you both continue to feel better and hope you have more trips planned!

[Broons77]

Also, it's heartening to hear that Voyager is in such nice shape.  I believe she got a freshening in 2019 just before the shutdown and I'm really looking forward to sailing on such an historically important ship.  All the bells and whistles you refer to such as bumper cars and racetracks at sea can trace their DNA directly to the wild concept of an ice rink on a ship that was introduced with Studio B.  So excited!

[DragonOfTheSeas]

16 minutes ago, Broons77 said:

Also, it's heartening to hear that Voyager is in such nice shape.  I believe she got a freshening in 2019 just before the shutdown and I'm really looking forward to sailing on such an historically important ship.  All the bells and whistles you refer to such as bumper cars and racetracks at sea can trace their DNA directly to the wild concept of an ice rink on a ship that was introduced with Studio B.  So excited!

I am sure you will have a good time and I look forward to reading your review.

 

The sofa in our suite was white.  🙄  Who thought that was a good idea?  However, it was very clean looking.  No stains or smudges.   I am happy to say we left it that way. 😃

 

I really enjoy the ice shows.  I am always amazed they can produce the shows on a moving ship.

Edited August 14, 2022 by DragonOfTheSeas

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Ports—I enjoyed all the ports.  Several times the port for our ship was far from the tourist sites.   There were closer ports for smaller ships.  We had the Jewel of the Seas booked for this cruise before Royal Caribbean redeployed it to the Med in 2021. [our second lift and shift] If we would do this again, I would select a smaller class ship.  We do not use all the bells and whistles on the bigger ships.  If we had been closer to the cities, it would have enhanced our experience.

 

 

We visited two places in Sweden—Stockholm and Visby. 

Stockholm is an excellent city to visit.  Whether it is a port day or the embarkation point there is a lot to see and do there.  We only scratched the surface after 4.5. days.  The public transportation is excellent, and everyone speaks English. The universal use of credit cards makes it easy for travelers to avoid currency exchange.

 

We booked the Hilton Hotel in the Slussen area for points.  We had access to the executive lounge and a breakfast.  So, I do not regret that.  Slussen is a transportation hub and very convenient. . . but hilly.  After visiting the city, I feel I would book a hotel in Nybroplan.  It is scenic, has lots of restaurants, is a ferry, tram, and bus access point. . . and is flat. If someone else has another area, they particularly liked please add it here.

********************************

If I only had one day to visit Stockholm, I would go to Djurgarden first and visit the Vasa Museum [opens 8:30am] and then the Viking Museum [opens 10am].  These museums are less visited in the morning.  Abba fans may want to replace the Viking Museum with the Abba Museum. I do not feel you can do both and still have time to see much in Gamla Stan. [a must see]

 

Then I would take a tram to Nybroplan. [only 3 stops] I would have lunch in one of the cafes there.  Then take a bus to Gamla Stan.  You could easily walk it from Nybroplan. If you have any mobility issues conserve your energy, Gamla Stan is hilly.  You can take the #76 bus back to the ship from the stop just past the palace at the waterfront.

 

This is an easy DIY city. YMMV

******************************************************

Visby, Sweden—is a quaint city.  It has history, an intact medieval city wall and enough elevation to give you a good aerobic workout.  If mobility is an issue you could take a taxi to the high point and walk back down to the waterfront if you are able. 

 

You can also take the shuttle to the waterfront park, walk along the waterfront and visit the Botanical Garden.  All are free and on flat ground. Anything other than that you will need to walk on cobblestones and uphill.

[rudeney]

@DragonOfTheSeas Thank you so much for your live reports, pics, and reviews!  I would love to take a European cruise, but my wife simply won't fly overseas, so we will keep cruising out of the US.  I was following your posts closely as we will be on Voyager in just 7 weeks going to CAN/NE.  I am glad to hear that the ship is in great shape.  We will be patient with the crew - I know they are trying hard to get things back to normal.  Your reports of the slow service in the CL just give me more justification for having bought the DBP.  Normally, we don't buy that because we have cocktails in the the CL and the other drinks we pay out of pocket for just don't justify the cost, but this time I figured we try it.  I hop you recover from COVID soon!

 

 

[ecslady]

Thanks so much for your live report.  Really enjoyed it. 

[Another_Critic]

2 hours ago, rudeney said:

I would love to take a European cruise, but my wife simply won't fly overseas, so we will keep cruising out of the US.

Very easy solution.  TA east in May, tour Europe for 3-4 months, TA west in Sept/Oct.  🙂

 

Optional QM2 TA one way or both.

[Sarah1974]

Thanks for your cruise blog.  I've loved reading it, sounds like a fabulous cruise.  It brought back happy memories of my Baltic Cruise in 2018 - and I'd love to go to the ports you went to.

 

Sorry to hear you got Covid; hopefully you're feeling better now

[rudeney]

On 8/14/2022 at 5:26 PM, Another_Critic said:

Very easy solution.  TA east in May, tour Europe for 3-4 months, TA west in Sept/Oct.  🙂

 

Optional QM2 TA one way or both.

 

I actually had thought about two TA's.  I am not sure if we would want to be away from home that long, but it is something I could consider. 🙂

[lauraapp]

Thanks for sharing!  Great blog.  We will be on voyager Sept 4.

you said cruise director was new….did she do a job?  Funny?

[colsky]

On 8/14/2022 at 5:40 PM, DragonOfTheSeas said:

Thanks everyone.  We are doing better.  It is an unfortunate end to a good cruise.  It does not take away from our great experiences. 

 

Here are a few thoughts regarding our cruise:

 

The Voyager of the Seas—She is a beautiful ship. 

 

She is clean and well cared for.  I have been on some ships [particularly in the Vision class] that are showing their age.  No amount of painting or sanding railings can cover all the damage of time.  I did not notice any of that on the Voyager.  The furniture in our suite looked very clean and the upholstery looked new. 

 

The staff was constantly cleaning.  The cruise compass had a notation to stay out of passenger passageways between 3-5am each day.  The crew used that time to fog the hallways to kill any germs.  One thing they did not do was encourage/force the use of hand sanitizer.  The Windjammer had a handwash station and everyone used that.  However, on our March cruise we were constantly asked to use sanitizer at almost every venue. [casino, theatre, etc.] There was always a dispenser present, but no one there to encourage its use. 

 

The Voyager does not have any of the gadgets found on the newest/biggest ships but provides what I call a more traditional cruising experience.  However, there is mini golf, a rock wall, a flow rider, two water slides, a basketball/pickleball court, etc.  One thing we did not have was pool activities/music.  With a port every day except one and cool weather there were few people in or even at the pools. I am sure this will be different when she returns to the Caribbean.

 

 

Many thanks for your interesting review and blog.  Sorry to hear about your Covid, hope you both recover quickly. We were on this same cruise and, luckily, are all back in England Covid free.

 

One part of your review I don't agree with, and it may be because I'm English! There was cooler weather on the Helsinki day, but most other days the weather was wonderful and warm. Much better than we were expecting. We were in and around the pools every day but one, which was a nice relaxing thing to do after a tiring port visit. It was a benefit of the ship being so empty, with us always able to get sun beds and room in the pools. My kids' favourite part of each day!

 

[adam7392]

Adding my thanks for your review.  Was also on the sailing and found it interesting to compare your comments each day to our experience.  We both had a great time and it was fabulous to experience a large ship which at around a third capacity.  Our head waiter at the MDR said the crew was at 85% capacity.

 

My wife also tested positive for covid on her return.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

4 hours ago, colsky said:

One part of your review I don't agree with, and it may be because I'm English! There was cooler weather on the Helsinki day, but most other days the weather was wonderful and warm. Much better than we were expecting. We were in and around the pools every day but one, which was a nice relaxing thing to do after a tiring port visit. It was a benefit of the ship being so empty, with us always able to get sun beds and room in the pools. My kids' favourite part of each day!

 

We enjoyed the weather, too.  We only had one rainy day out of the 17 we were on vacation.  That is an amazing record.  Also, two days before we left home in Virginia the temperature was 98 degrees.  We LOVED the cool air.  

 

I noticed a few people at the pools--just not very many.  It was great that your family was able to enjoy them

 

4 hours ago, adam7392 said:

Adding my thanks for your review.  Was also on the sailing and found it interesting to compare your comments each day to our experience.  We both had a great time and it was fabulous to experience a large ship which at around a third capacity.  Our head waiter at the MDR said the crew was at 85% capacity.

 

My wife also tested positive for covid on her return.

I am sorry your wife tested positive.  I hope her symptoms are mild.  

 

We have a few residual symptoms but are improving.  We are now at the end of our 5 days isolation period and will be able to go out with a mask.  

 

I hope both of you will add any thoughts regarding your experiences on the cruise--especially about what you did in the ports.  There were so many things to see and do that no one could do them all.